This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • After deliberating for seven hours, a 4th District Court jury decided to return Wednesday morning to reach their verdict in Conrad Mark Truman's murder trial.
The Orem man is accused of fatally shooting his wife, 25-year-old Heidy Truman, in their home in 2012.
After several hours of closing arguments on Tuesday morning, the jury members began their deliberations just after noon, tasked to decide whether Truman, 32, is guilty of murder, a first-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
By 7 p.m. on Tuesday, jurors took a break for the evening and planned to return at 8:30 a.m. to continue their deliberations.
Prosecutors told the jury Tuesday morning that the evidence shows that Heidy Truman was murdered on Sept. 30, 2012.
"Heidy Truman was murdered in cold blood by her husband," Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson told jurors.
But defense attorney Ronald Yengich repeatedly told the jury that his client was innocent, and did not pull the trigger.
Yengich argued that prosecutors did not prove that Conrad Truman murdered his wife, and showed only "that a young lady died from a gunshot wound to the head."
Yengich told a jury during opening statements three weeks ago, and reiterated Tuesday, that Heidy Truman likely died by accident — that she shot herself when she slipped and fell while holding a handgun after taking a bath.
"Did she adjust her towel?" Yengich asked the jury. "Did she bump into a wall? Did she slip and fall? You don't know and I don't know and they [prosecutors] don't know."
In his rebuttal, Johnson pointed to the medical examiner report that showed the gun was pressed against Heidy Truman's head when the shot was fired. He said this shows the death wasn't an accident.
"A woman draws a bath, gets naked and then comes out and shoots herself," he said. "Is that reasonable? It's not."
But Yengich said there was no evidence to prove that his client pulled the trigger, either.
"To believe the state's theory in this case, you have to believe he walked up, put that gun to her head and shot her," he said. "Where is the evidence in that? This isn't a game, ladies and gentleman."
Yengich continued: "Under oath, that young man right there looked you in the eye and told you he didn't kill his wife."
Last Thursday, Conrad Truman took the witness stand in his own defense, telling the jurors several times that he did not kill his wife.
The first question asked by defense attorney James Park: "Did you shoot your wife?"
"No," Truman replied.
Truman was outwardly calm and soft-spoken throughout his testimony. He told the jury about his marriage to Heidy Truman, and how they would leave love notes for one another throughout their home.
Eventually, Conrad Truman discussed the night of the shooting.
The night Heidy Truman died, her husband said they had been watching the television shows "Dexter" and "Homeland" and drinking Maker's Mark whiskey when at some point, he heard yelling outside.
Conrad Truman testified that he grabbed his dog and his gun and went to investigate. He did see a strange man on his walk, he testified, and told his wife about it when he returned home.
The couple continued talking about various topics, including whether they should get another dog, when Heidy Truman became irritated with him and decided to take a bath, the husband testified.
After about 20 minutes, Conrad Truman said he heard a pop and looked at his wife, who was standing naked in the hallway.
"It was my wife," he testified. "There was a choking sound and blood. Everything happened so fast. It's way too difficult to explain."
The husband testified that somehow both he and his wife ended up on the floor. He tried to perform CPR and called 911.
When police arrived, they found blood everywhere — in the kitchen where Heidy Truman's naked body lay, in the front entry, the living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and on Truman himself.
Police began to suspect Conrad Truman of murder when he told conflicting stories about her death, saying at different times that an intruder could have been in the home, that someone may have shot her through a window or that his wife shot herself.
"I know I didn't have a gun," Conrad Truman testified. "I know I didn't shoot a gun. I was just doing the best I could to find an analytical way to find out what happened."
Prosecutors initially said the motive for the alleged murder was because Conrad Truman stood to inherit nearly $1 million in life insurance benefits when his wife died. While they presented evidence of the Trumans' life insurance policies at trial, they backed away from labeling it as a "motive" for the crime. Instead, Johnson argued that the shooting was the result of an alcohol-fueled disagreement or argument before Heidy Truman took her bath.
"That argument plus alcohol plus guns equal murder in this case," Johnson said, but also emphasized that prosecutors did not need to provide a motive for a jury to return a guilty verdict.
During his closing argument, Yengich also read a number of loving text messages exchanged by the couple in the days before Heidy Truman's death. The husband told his wife he missed her. They told each other they loved each other. He used pet names like "sweet pea" and "baby doll." Yengich said the messages showed the couple had a loving relationship and that Conrad Truman would not harm his wife.
"Did he kill her for money?" Yengich said. "Did he kill for love? He killed her for neither. Because he didn't kill her."
Twitter: @jm_miller